Russia’s Red Arrow secured on track

Driving force: Russia is ripe for securitization, and Russian Railways’ $456 million deal may signal the beginning of the journey

SECURITIZATION HAS BEEN a long time coming in Russia but 2006 seems to be the year when more than just a trickle of deals will finally emerge. Most of the deals in the past 12 months from Russia have involved banks securitizing their assets – so far this year Russian Standard Bank has issued the first publicly marketed securitization of Russian domestic assets with its €300 million consumer loan deal, and Alfa Bank sold the first Russian securitization of diversified payment rights from overseas customers and correspondent banks.